Various techniques have been utilized to acoustically levitate objects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,732 by Wang et al. describes acoustic levitation within a substantially closed chamber by the use of three standing wave patterns, and an object is held at the nodes of the three standing wave patterns. U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,921 by Oran et al. describes an acoustic levitation system wherein a linear transducer with a concave face, generates a largely collimated or planar acoustic wave field, which is reflected from an opposite reflector and shaped by a ring that surrounds the field, to support an object halfway between the transducer and reflector. While these systems can levitate objects of a variety of sizes compared to the size of the chamber or transducer, some movement of the object will occur. Where very small objects such as of the submillimeter size are to be levitated, and where it is desirable to prevent wandering of the object by more than its diameter, or even a large fraction of its diameter, it is difficult to achieve this with such prior art systems. A levitation system of moderate simplicity which could stably levitate small objects while preventing their movement by more than a small amount, would be of considerable benefit in the contactless processing of small objects.